This fall, Claysburg-Kimmel School District purchased 103 staff computers and 28 classroom interactive panels after receiving funds from a $900,000 federal technology grant.

“This grant is a huge win for our district,” Superintendent Brian Helsel said. “For a small rural community like ours, having access to this level of technology truly opens doors for our students.”

The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant, known as the RUS-DLT grant, gives rural communities an opportunity to connect with the world using technology, according to the USDA website.

Improving school technology “helps open doors for kids,” Technology Director Michelle Guyer said, as “technology is the way of the future.”

In February 2024, Guyer and former Technology Director Jerome Dodson spoke to a vendor about the grant during a conference. Later, he gave a grant presentation to Claysburg-Kimmel and the IU8 staff.

“We were like, ‘this is perfect for us,'” Guyer said, because the district was using laptops five years old or older at that time.

With education costs rising, Helsel said the district can’t “rely on local dollars alone.”

The school board pursued every grant they could to “support students and protect taxpayers” at the same time, he said.

“Money is hard to find,” Guyer said, “so a grant helps kids advance their learning while being responsible for taxpayers.”

The district then applied for the grant in spring 2024 and received positive news in November 2024.

As a result, they began to purchase laptops and interactive panels over the summer, but they could not receive their reimbursement check due to the 43-day-long federal shutdown, she said.

Eventually, the district received their allocated reimbursement check, Guyer said, starting their three-year technology installment at Claysburg-Kimmel.

Purchasing new laptops and interactive panels was part of their first-year plan, she said. Next year, the district plans to upgrade the high school’s auditorium sound system and instruction at the elementary school.

With the final installment, the district will place Poly interactive video conferencing technology into classrooms for virtual classroom teaching, conference calls and staff training.

With this grant, she said Claysburg-Kimmel students and staff will have access to the proper technology and equipment needed in today’s world.

The RUS-DLT grant helps “fill those gaps” in technology for students and staff, she said.

In the future, elementary students can use interactive classroom panels to attend virtual field trips to the Pittsburgh Zoo, she said.

“You want everyone to see, participate and have the opportunity” to embark on the field trip through the interactive panels that range from 65 to 86 inches at the school, she said.

While Claysburg-Kimmel is a rural school, Guyer said that the grant gives students an opportunity to grow and advance with technology instead of learning without it.

“We’re not letting our zip code limit our kids,” board President Jeremy Knott said. “This grant shows what a determined rural district can achieve.”

“We talk all the time about providing hope and opportunity to every child here at CKSD — this award does exactly that,” Helsel said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.